Saturday, July 29, 2006

Monkey Wash, Donkey Rinse

The goal today was 3 miles. I was a little nervous after Thursday's run and watching the hourly temp predictions at weather.com (boy that desktop icon is both a blessing and a curse).

First I went to strap on the new running shoes I won at the Reggae Ramble. I should have listened to my gut feeling and asked for the wide - once I got my feet into them they were really tight across the top of my foot. I'm tempted to take them to City Sports and demand they give me the right size (since their moron "measured" my foot). First I'll try relacing them and see if it's just because it's that new stiffness. If not, I'm going to CS and demanding a manager.

So I strapped on my usual shoes in spite of the fact they're losing their spoingyness - that stage when they aren't dead yet... it's just a flesh wound - and headed out. (Good thing the NB tent sale is this weekend and I can pick up a new pair on sale.)

Two miles into the run my inner loser (thanks for that description Falco) threw a temper tantrum and said, "I'm not running anymore! You can't make me! I'm going to sit here and hold my breath until I turn blue." Instead of fighting it I figured - fine, you're not going to run - but you ARE doing the three miles. When it tried to turn around a couple of times, I realized I had to show it the same sorts of consequences I show my kids.

"Just for tanking the other day, you need to make up that half mile," I told it. It screamed, shouted and tried to hold it's breath - but I made it run that last half mile loop it didn't run the other day. I broke into a run just as the B52's yelled, "You're what?!" "Tin roof.... rusted."

That's how you handle an inner loser temper tantrum.

So mileage for today is a 2.5 mile run and 1 mile walk.

Because of yesterday's thunder storm rolling in just when they open the pool for general swim, the only thing I got in was the 1.25 mile walk to the mechanic's to pick up my car so I could get Mr. Pi at LAX camp. Because the local lacrosse store shows up at camp on Tuesday and Friday, I wasn't surprised when he wanted a new goalie head and mesh. (Hey, I don't need to buy groceries this week, I spend $100 on new LAX stuff he doesn't need... right?)

This lead to a sulky Mr. Pi when I said, "Well buddy, I guess you better start saving your allowance...." OK, I admit I bought the orange mesh when he wasn't looking for his coach to restring the head of his stick as a surprise next week. That part is cheap - it's the head that costs the big bucks and his current one is "perfect" according to his coach.

If it stays hot I probably will head over to the pool to just do some easy laps and cool down. Tomorrow is a rest day and I suspect it's going to be harder to do nothing than I thought.

One other thing I started doing was seeing how much water I lose during a run. I weigh myself before heading out the door and when I come in. I pretty much lose two pounds - that would be 1 quart of water. Now the next question I need to figure out - given I drink about 3 quarts of water a day - should I add one more quart to make up for that loss or not? Of course I probably absorb that much when I take my shower after running but it is a question worth researching.